NATION IN BRIEF

FEC urged to probe mystery group behind ads in Arizona race

The Democratic abortion rights group EMILY’S List is asking the Federal Election Commission to investigate a group that has run a television ad targeting a Democrat vying to challenge Republican Rep. David Schweikert in Arizona.

The ad accuses Marlene Galánwoods, one of several Democrats running in Arizona’s 1st District, of stealing money and opposing gay rights and abortion access. It depicts Galán-woods as a marionette and concludes by calling her “just another political opportunist.”

The ad, which aired several times in the Phoenix media market, was produced by Turn AZ Blue PAC. That sounds like a Democratic group but, according to a complaint EMILY’S List said it filed with the FEC on Wednesday, it is not affiliated with the party.

The group’s treasurer is

Thomas Datwyler, who has worked as a treasurer and accountant on campaigns supporting Republicans. Datwyler has a record of violating FEC reporting requirements and was the subject of an investigation by the Mississippi attorney general’s office, the complaint notes.

According to the complaint, the ads were paid for in cash by Renegade Public Affairs, a Texas-based firm founded by Carlos Sierra, a consultant who has worked with Republicans as well as some Democratic and Libertarian candidates.

Datwyler could not be reached for comment.

Sierra said Thursday that he had not seen the complaint. “I got brought on to do the advertising,” he said. “I just handled the creative part.”

EMILY’S List, which backs Democratic women who support abortion rights, says Turn AZ

Blue has not reported any of its spending or listed its donors and it is asking the FEC to open an investigation.

The complaint alleges that the ads aim to create doubt among Democratic primary voters about Galán-woods, who was endorsed by EMILY’S List last year.

“Not surprisingly, the advertisements were riddled with falsehoods,” the complaint states. “What is surprising is that this Turn AZ Blue PAC apparently does not exist – the PAC has not registered nor filed reports with the commission.”

Steamy ocean means ‘a very, very busy season’ for hurricanes, early forecasts say

The upcoming hurricane season is shaping up to be another extremely active one, powered by the Atlantic’s record-breaking run of high temperatures.

The early season forecast from Colorado State University — a key pioneer of preseason hurricane forecasting — calls for another above-average season. The bottom line: Florida, and other coastal states, should prepare to batten down the hatches when the season begins on June 1.

Specifically, the forecast calls for 23 named storms, 11 of which could form hurricanes and five that could strengthen into major hurricanes, Category 3 or higher. The average season has 14 named storms, 7 hurricanes and 3 major hurricanes.

That would put this season on par with some of the most active on record, including 2020, where there were so many storms the National Hurricane Center ran out of names and had to switch to an alternate list of Greek letters.

“This is the highest April forecast we’ve put out,” Phil Klotzbach, CSU meteorologist and lead author of the forecast, told a crowd of meteorologists at the National Tropical Weather Conference Thursday. “We are forecasting a very, very busy season.”

Hurricane season begins June 1 and ends Nov. 30, with a peak in August and September. Forecasting what the season could hold this early is usually seen as a tough task. The gold standard — from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration — is in May.

Boston pushing for 15-20 mph citywide speed limit after pedestrian deaths

BOSTON — In the wake of two pedestrian fatalities, including the death of a 4-year-old girl, over the past week, the Boston City Council plans to explore a citywide reduction of the speed limit from 25 to 20 mph to enhance street safety.

The city last lowered its default speed limit, from 30 to 25 mph, in 2017, but councilors have pushed for a further reduction to 20 mph in the past, according to a hearing order put forward by Ed Flynn, discussed on Wednesday, that is renewing the past debate following the recent fatalities involving a child and wheelchair user.

While he’s pushing for a new 20 mph speed limit throughout Boston with enhanced traffic enforcement by the city’s police department, Flynn said he thinks the new limit should be even lower, at 15 mph.

“I continue to believe that pedestrian safety is one of the most critical issues we face in the city of Boston,” Flynn said at the Wednesday meeting, referencing the city’s goal for Vision Zero, or having zero serious and fatal traffic crashes.

“In Boston,” he said, “25 mph is excessive driving through a dense neighborhood. I think it should be 20 mph. I even think it should be 15 mph, but driving 25 mph on residential streets is unhealthy.

It’s unsafe.”

He pointed to places where the Council’s past advocacy for a 20 mph speed limit has already been implemented, via a Safety Surge Program the city incorporated last year, that installed speed hump zones with that lower limit on qualifying neighborhood streets to make them safer for pedestrians.

“However, the speed hump program is only being installed on smaller side streets, but not on wider and busier streets where cars and commuters are consistently speeding and serious crashes also occur,” Flynn said.

Main streets, commercial roads and high traffic corridors are also dangerous for pedestrians, and would benefit from similar trafficcalming infrastructure “to force vehicles to slow down,” he said, noting that councilors should consider pushing for updates to the city’s Safety Surge Program to reflect those changes.

Boston should also consider experimenting with electronic technology that is designed to automatically slow speeding cars down to whatever the designated speed limit is, whether it be 25 or 20 mph, which, Flynn said, is already being tested in other cities across the country.

Dramatic video shows Texas National Guardsman caught smuggling migrant into US

A Texas National Guardsman accused of smuggling a migrant across the southern border led authorities on a high-speed chase before he was finally taken into custody, dash and bodycam video revealed.

Savion Amari Donovan Johnson, who was deployed to Eagle Pass as part of Gov. Greg Abbott’s Operation Lone Star, is facing charges including evading arrest, smuggling of persons and unlawful carry of a weapon, the Texas Department of Public Safety confirmed.

Video of his capture, shared online Wednesday by News Nation, sees Johnson being pulled from the driver’s seat of a silver SUV and out the passenger side door by authorities, who then take him into custody.

Prior to his arrest on Sunday, he attempted to flee pursuing officers, who tried to pull him over when he turned around near a pop-up tactical Border Patrol checkpoint off Highway 674. It had been set up just days earlier, and authorities became suspicious at his sudden change of course, Kinney County Sheriff Brad Coe told News Nation.

The subsequent pursuit, with speeds at some points topping 100 mph, stretched some 15 miles near the U.S. border with Mexico, Coe noted.

The migrant he’d been attempting to transport initially tried to flee while officers detained Johnson but eventually surrendered to authorities to be processed. According to News Nation sources, Johnson was allegedly paid upwards of $5,000 for the smuggling job.

“If the allegations are true, the accused is a traitor and criminal,” Gov. Abbott said in a statement to News Nation. “We have zero tolerance for Texans who violate laws that directly contradict the mission we are seeking to achieve.”

Johnson’s arrest marked at least the second time in less than a year that soldiers have been caught trying to transport migrants from the border in

Texas. Last June, two soldiers, including one from the Louisiana

National Guard, were arrested and charged with attempting to smuggle migrants through the same region in Kinney County.

Georgia’s top election officials weren’t consulted on sweeping election measure

ATLANTA — Georgia Deputy Secretary of State Jordan Fuchs says her office wasn’t consulted on a sweeping election bill approved by the state Legislature last month.

Fuchs made the comments on Thursday’s “Politically Georgia” show, adding, “I think if you’re going to draft legislation that has an impact on election officials, you should sit down with them (and) get their input.”

Senate Bill 189 now awaits

Gov. Brian Kemp’s signature. If signed into law, the measure would broaden activists ability to challenge voter eligibility, eliminate counting ballots with computer QR codes, and strengthen ballot security requirements.

It would also make it easier for independent presidential candidates, like Robert F.

Kennedy and Cornel West, to get on the Georgia ballot, as long as they qualify in 20 other states.

If that happens, it could put the Secretary of State’s office in a major time crunch.

“I just wonder if anybody’s looked at the calendar ...and how that runs you up against the deadlines that you need to have in mind for getting your own ballot organized for the fall,” she said.

She was also doubtful that Gov. Kemp would sign the measure into law. “I don’t think it’s going to get signed into law, but I can’t predict the future,” says Fuchs.

British billionaire Joe Lewis dodges prison time for insider trading, gets $5 million fine

NEW YORK — British billionaire Joe Lewis, whose family owns the Tottenham Hotspur soccer team, dodged prison time in Manhattan on Thursday for a yearslong insider trading scheme the feds described as “brazen.”

The 87-year-old Tavistock

Group founder was sentenced to three years’ probation and agreed to pay a $5 million fine for sharing tips with friends, romantic partners and two personal pilots, among others, allowing them to rake in millions.

Lewis’ Bahamas-based company, Broad Bay Ltd., previously agreed to a $50 million fine for failing to detect and report his misconduct.

Manhattan Federal Court Judge Jessica Clarke said Lewis had abused his access to marketmoving information about publicly traded companies and tipped off others to similarly break the law, “even providing money for those he tipped off so that they could use that money to trade on the information he provided.”

“He didn’t just do this once, but provided insider information to multiple people over multiple years,” the judge added.

Describing what Lewis did as “undoubtedly wrong,” Clarke gave the English tycoon credit for coming to the U.S. as soon as he was notified about a warrant for his arrest and “promptly” accepting responsibility. She said a sentence of prison time would be greater punishment than necessary, given his poor health, old age and lack of a criminal record.

99 Cents Only to close all 371 stores and wind down its business

99 Cents Only Stores will close all 371 of its stores and wind down its business operations after more than four decades, the City of Commerce discount chain announced Thursday.

“This was an extremely difficult decision and is not the outcome we expected or hoped to achieve,” interim Chief Executive Mike Simoncic said in a statement. “Unfortunately, the last several years have presented significant and lasting challenges in the retail environment.”

He called out several factors, including the “unprecedented impact” of the COVID-19 pandemic, shifting consumer demand, persistent inflationary pressures and rising levels of shrink — an industry term that refers to loss of inventory attributed to reasons such as shoplifting, employee theft and administrative errors.

Combined, those issues “have greatly hindered the company’s ability to operate,” Simoncic said.

Source: Tribune News Service